Los Angeles city officials said Tuesday that they plan to sell 9 million square feet of unused "air rights" above the Convention Center to developers -- who could add the vertical space to build housing projects elsewhere in downtown L.A. that exceed current city growth limits.
The move opens up downtown to larger and denser development at a time of growing debate across the region about overdevelopment and traffic congestion.
The developable space above the Convention Center is large enough to build the equivalent of seven 73-story U.S. Bank buildings, and city leaders expect the program to spark a new boom in residential development.
City officials said developers who buy the rights could significantly expand projects beyond what Los Angeles' zoning allows.
The city intends to sell the air rights for about $20 a square foot -- which could be a bargain for developers who would have to spend many times more to buy the equivalent amount of land.
The new program was unveiled Tuesday by Los Angeles leaders and downtown developers who hailed it as a major step in giving downtown the dense urban atmosphere of cities such as New York, Chicago and Vancouver.
But the air rights sale was met with concern from some community activists who worried it could further clog the region's roads and strain other services.
"We haven't really created any more space. That's a fiction," said Robert Scott, past president of the Los Angeles Planning Commission and chairman of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. "And we don't have the infrastructure to accommodate it just because somebody came up with a mathematical formula to create floor space."
At the heart of the plan, quietly approved by the City Council last week, is the space above the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Although the center is only a few stories tall, the land is zoned for high-rise development.
The city plans to sell the space above it to developers, who could take the square footage and add it to their own downtown developments.
Money collected from the air rights sale -- estimated to be about $200 million -- would go into a special trust that would be disbursed by a special community commission for certain new projects downtown, such as affordable housing and park construction.
In most of downtown, zoning rules allow high-rise developers six square feet of building for every square foot of the total lot. If developers buy air rights, they are allowed up to 13 square feet of building for every square foot of total lot.
